Anything For You by Sarah Mayberry Page B

opinion, they trust us.”
    Sam shot his eyes to Delaney, signaling for her to take the lead once more. She stepped in without hesitation, as always. He felt the adrenaline buzz he always got when a meeting was going well.
    “Have a look at these results from a recent reader survey we did,” Delaney said, sliding a document toward John. “We rated above all the other competition in every area. Even above the more specialized surfing mags out of the U.S.”
    While John ran his eye over the figures, Delaney flicked Sam a quick look, the confident lift of her eyebrow telling him that she thought they were kicking goals left, right and center, too.
    A warm glow started in Sam’s belly as he realized that the tension that had sat between them since The Incident had dissolved. The old teamwork was once more in play—the Sam and Delaney show was back in town.
    His shoulders relaxed. He’d just found the key to resolving things with his best friend. Meetings. Lots and lots of meetings. Once the initial awkwardness was gone between them, it was just like old times. He should have forced more interaction between the two of them earlier—they’d both been avoiding one another so much this week that this was the longest time they’d spent in the same room for days. But now Sam saw that the more time they spent together, the more relaxed and comfortable they both became. They were a team. He simply had to remind Delaney of that, and the rest of it would melt away. A wave of relief washed over him. It was going to be okay. He felt almost euphoric.
    A few more meetings like this, and they could consign those mad moments in Delaney’s flat to the dustbin of history—memories to be locked away and sealed and buried deep, never to see the light of day again.
    Balancing back on his chair, Sam put his feet on the table, a goofy smile on his lips as he watched Delaney talk with John. In light of all that he’d almost lost, Delaney wanting out from the business didn’t seem like the insurmountable barrier that it had on Monday. At the end of the day, if it made her happy to stretch her wings and try something else, he was happy. Their friendship was the important thing. And who was to say, anyway, how long this bug about leaving the business would last? If he kept reminding her of how good they were together, there was every chance she’d change her mind about that, too.
    “Man, I need some caffeine, bad,” Delaney suddenly announced, pushing her chair back and standing in one smooth, athletic movement. “You want a coffee, John?”
    “Black with one, thanks, Delaney,” John confirmed.
    She cut her eyes across to Sam. “I won’t even bother asking you, since you’re just a big caffeine pig,” she said wryly.
    “Oink, oink,” Sam agreed. “Actually, make it a triple oink—I missed my morning hit.”
    Delaney shook her head at him as she crossed to where the espresso machine sat on the sideboard near the window.
    “You’re looking at a man who can single-handedly chew through a catering-sized bag of coffee in a week, John,” she teased as she hit the button to grind the beans.
    Sam opened his mouth to respond in kind just as Delaney stepped into the streaming sunlight pouring through the window. Instantly her newly tinted hair caught fire, and her white shirt became virtually translucent. He nearly choked on his tongue as he stared at the perfectly outlined contours of her breasts in a lacy white bra. All rational thought fled his brain as the bulk of his blood supply rushed south. He closed his eyes for a long, long beat, powerless to stop the unwanted images flashing across his closed eyelids—Delaney’s breasts puckering under his hands, the arch of her back as she asked for more, the unfocused passion in her face.
    He opened his eyes and blinked, but nothing had changed. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her breasts, even though he knew he should. Was that really a hint of nipple darkness he could discern